[2000-11-19-WWF-Survivor Series] Steve Austin vs HHH

[ohtani's jacket]

I can't remember if I watched this pay-per-view or not. My relationship with the WWF was strained at the time and the shit with Austin and Rikishi made things worse. Triple H being the accomplice was about as satisfying as Vince being the Higher Power and led to a rehash of a feud that nobody wanted to see. Truthfully speaking, the match wasn't that bad. It was a generic WWF main event brawl but Triple H and Austin were solid main event brawlers and went through the motions pretty well. It was the least interesting match from Triple H's 2000 run but it wasn't due to a lack of effort. Hunter took some big bumps, sold his ass off and gigged his forehead. Austin had promised an ass whipping and that's pretty much what he gave him but something felt a little off. Perhaps it was because Austin took too much of the match, but it never really felt like a culmination of the hatred they were meant to feel for one another. The finish was stupid but I can understand why they wanted to create a payoff for the hit and run the year before. The worst part about it was that it came across like a mini-movie that was filmed while the rest of the show was going on. And it took the crowd completely out of the equation. But it wasn't as awful as you'd imagine and overall I thought the match was passable. Although "passable' is quite a dropoff during Hunter's stellar year. 

[soup23]

A really nice start and this was trending into Rock vs Rikishi territory and then they start brawling on the outside and things just grind down. We get really lengthy brawling and none of it is really innovative, hate filled or inspiring. The heat is also not as big as you would think. Once they go back to ringside and HHH opens up another gusher, it got a little better but again the crowd isn’t really invested as much as you might think and the work is just too bloated. HHH goes for a pedigree on the outside and Austin backdrops him through a table. Back inside, some more punch and kicks in the corner. Austin sets HHH up for the stunner and is able to hit it as the crowd comes alive now. Austin decides not to go for the cover and to inflict more damage. Austin puts the chair over HHH’s head but HHH is revived and to the back they brawl again. The Radicalz attack Austin which shouldn’t be shocking to anyone even as outraged JR is. HHH retreats to the door and calls out orders. A million officials try to separated the Radicalz from Austin. HHH is in a car and Benoit tries to lure Austin into the aisle so HH can run him over but Austin goofs him and comes around to attach the car with the forklift. We know what happens here where we get the visual of HHH dying via the forklift drop. Really stupid and contrived and too unbelievable to take seriously. I will say at least HHH only wrestles one match from now until Royal Rumble so the narrative of him coming back with a band aid may be a tad overblown but its still really dump and this is easily the biggest blunder on HHH’s resume in 2000. *1/2

[Zoo Enthusiast]

I had forgotten they actually ended a PPV like this.  So weird.  It goes completely off the rails when Austin doesn’t cover HHH after the Stunner and spends what feels like an eternity positioning a chair on HHH’s ankle and eventually his neck before HHH finally gets up and they walk and brawl into the backstage area.  Once they go through the curtain, it goes from off the rails to absolute absurdity leading to the forklift finish.  Just a very messy match, but great blood from HHH and Austin doing Austin stuff that I’ll never not pop for.